New images released by the ODA today show the huge land bridge that will form the main Gateway to the Games' taking shape.

The 250m long and 40m wide bridge, made with 1,700 tonnes of steel, will form the roof of the Aquatics Centre training pool and be the main pedestrian access into the Olympic Park, which will be used by up to 200,000 people every day during the Games.

The last of five new bridges into the Olympic Stadium site have been lifted into place.

Construction work is now underway on 21 of 30 new bridges that will cross waterways, roads and rivers to create a connected, open and accessible Olympic Park for the Games and legacy.


Fourteen steel beams, up to 60m long and weighing 75 tonnes each have been produced in Scunthorpe, fabricated in Bolton and lifted into place to form the first section of the main land bridge into the Olympic Park.

In total, 6000 tonnes of steel supplied from across the UK is being utilised to join-up up the previously disconnected Olympic Park.

ODA Chairman John Armitt said: "Seeing the bridge that will form the main "Gateway to the Games" taking shape is a significant milestone and gives us an exciting glimpse of the route hundreds of thousands of spectators will take into the Olympic Park in 2012. "Lifting the final new link into the Olympic Stadium site is also an important step and follows the good progress we are making on bridges across the site to create the building blocks for an open and accessible Olympic Park in 2012 and beyond. Connecting the parklands, legacy venues and new neighbourhoods that will be built around the Olympic Park are an important part of regenerating this part of east London."

(CD/KMcA)